Burgh Beautiful Linlithgow
Community Gardens
One of the great things about Linlithgow is its wonderful community gardens. Outsiders, and particularly judges for horticultural competitions, are always amazed about the achievements of our community gardeners!
Community Garden at the West Port Flats
Audrey Simpson’s community garden behind the West Port flats is a really stunning example. It has been described by Britain in Bloom judges as of ‘Chelsea Show Garden’ standard, and Audrey received a special certificate to that effect from the Royal Horticultural Society. Audrey does all the work herself, with support from Burgh Beautiful, and she deserves the highest accolade for transforming communal grassland , once maintained by West Lothian Council, into such a showpiece.
Not too far away, past the West Port Hotel by the Longcroft Hall off Philip Avenue, is the Brownies’ Garden, a lovely oasis.
Water Yett Community Garden
This outstanding community garden was created and maintained over many years by nearby resident Eileen Murray with the help and support of some of her neighbours. Since she retired from gardening, the display, which consists of a long flower bed along the eastern side of the street and reaching down towards Linlithgow Loch, as well as seven floral planters, has been maintained by a small group of Burgh Beautiful volunteers who do their best to keep it in the sort of order that Eileen would appreciate. The display includes examples of decorative public art and acts as a haven for wildlife, and, to give it a proper setting, Burgh Beautiful, through its contractor Alan Agnew, makes sure that the grass is cut weekly, to a high standard. As with Audrey Simpson’s community garden at the West Port flats, the entire area was originally plain grass maintained by the local authority.
St Ninian’s Way Community Garden
In the same general area, Burgh Beautiful volunteer Dianne Lamont has created, and still maintains, a small community garden by the stone wall on the north side of St Ninian’s Way, together with a small garden on the opposite side of the road, further down. Like the others, it contains an attractive mix of permanent and annual planting.
Pilgrims Hill Community Gardens
Independently of Burgh Beautiful, Mary McCann and a group of local residents plant and maintain a comprehensive array of flower beds round the trees in the central green in the southern part of Pilgrims Hill, together with a beautifully kept raised bed (as shown on the accompanying photograph) and a large border full of perennials by the link footpaths to the south — all the more impressive for being so unexpected in such a location.
Braehead Community Garden
At the corner of Braehead Road and Moray Drive is a flower bed which was one of the first to be laid out by Burgh Beautiful, with the help of West Lothian Council staff. Over the ensuing years, it became somewhat overgrown, but with help from members of the surrounding community and coordination by a Burgh Beautiful volunteer, the bed is now experiencing a renewed lease of life.